"The Peace Corps represents the highest purpose of this country, " says
Sargent Shriver, founding director of the Peace Corps. "It personifies
our best qualities and deploys to the world the vision of what the
United States stands for."

Forty years after President Kennedy
created the Peace Corps, the organization has sent over 162,000
volunteers to 134 countries to provide educational, environmental,
health, business, and agricultural services and training.

An early group of Peace Corps volunteers go through training before being sent to a foreign country.

The first mention of the Peace Corps came in 1960, when John F. Kennedy
stumped at the University of Michigan.

"How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your
days in Ghana," Kennedy asked at an impromptu 2 a.m. speech.

The idea blossomed, and days before the 1960 election, Kennedy declared
that if elected president, he would create an international service
organization called the "Peace Corps."

"There is not enough money in all America to relieve the misery of the
undeveloped world," he explained. "But there is enough know-how and
enough knowledgeable people to help those nations help themselves."

After being elected, Kennedy reiterated this idea in his State of Union
address and on March 1, 1961, he signed an executive order establishing
the Peace Corps.

"The Peace Corps was Kennedy's dream," says Shriver. "It was one of the most visionary and important dreams he ever expressed."

The Peace Corps has grown not just in number, but also in respect
around the globe.

The Peace Corps in the 21st Century

A world vastly changed since 1961 has brought a new series of challenges to Peace Corps volunteers.

Once only serving Africa, Peace Corps volunteers now travel around the
globemost recently to Eastern Europe. In 1990 President George
Bush sent Peace Corps volunteers to Hungary and Poland, areas in need of
assistance but unreachable during the Cold War.

The '90s saw AIDS become an increasing threat both at home and abroad.
Last year Peace Corps director Mark Schneider announced that all 2,400
Peace Corps volunteers serving 25 countries in Africa would be trained
as HIV/AIDS educators. Two hundred volunteers were deployed to work
exclusively on AIDS-related assignments.

Another challenge of the 1990s was globalizing technology. In October
the Peace Corps teamed up with AOL-Time Warner and Hewlett-Packard. The
companies donated "Peace Packs" of computers, modems, printers, and
digital cameras to 15 countries, as well as 120 volunteers trained in
information technology.

Says Shriver, "the Peace Corps has a greater mission today than it did when it started: to bring peace to every corner of the world."

U.S. residents can watch the complete interview with Sargent Shriver on the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps at 7 and 10 p.m. on National Geographic Today
.